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Hey folks!
As many of you know, I was rather desperately (darn near pathetically) looking for anyone out there to assure me that I hadn't booked my friends into a hellhole before we departed for St. Thomas two weeks ago. We were staying at Sea Star Villa, very near the Ritz-Carlton/Red Hook. Unfortunately, nobody had actually been to the villa, so I promised to fill everyone in on the details.
Well, I'm back, and, so no one can say I am not a man of my word (unless said promise is made under the influence of three or more Bushwackers), here we go:
In a nutshell, the villa rocked, as the kids would say. Five master suites (three upstairs, two downstairs), each with a bathroom. The rooms were beautifully decorated, air conditioned, and four of the five had sliding doors leading out to patios with views of the ocean. The villa itself is right on the water... a crushed coral beach which we went snorkling off almost every morning.
If you've seen this house on the various websites, you know what it looks like. And this is a case of the villa looking every bit as good in person as it does on the web. In other words, this ain't one of those bad internet dates where you get there and discover too late that the person posted a photo taken 20-years and three bad face lifts ago.
There were a few minor problems. The sofabed, which I slept on, was something of a nightmare, but most nights I went to bed so wasted... I mean, um, tired, that it didn't make a bit of difference. Yes, I played the martyr and let my various friends take the many beds. That's just my way. (Why am I still single, for heaven's sake?)
I'd also say that the wholesaler whom we went through did their best to mess things up. The villa rep on the island was not given our proper arrival time, nor any of the contact information we gave to the wholesaler several times. This got our vacation off to a bit of a rocky start, but that got worked out quickly thanks to Judy (from McLaughlin Anderson), who put up with my frustration and really turned out to be an amazing help.
Anybody wanting more information, let me know. Heck, I'll probably post more, completely unsolicitated, but I just wanted to jot a quick note so that anyone out there who might be considering this villa would have some kind of info to go on.
Richard
PS: Coming up next... watch for my post to be titled The Good, The Bad & The Karaoke (about a night at Iggys, at Bolongo Beach Bay Club)...
Thanks Richard!
Can't wait for Part 2: The Good, The Bad & The Karaoke. Sounds interesting.
--Islander
I hope your friends shouted you a few rounds for your sofabed sacrifice!
They did. We had four couples taking up the first four master suites, and then we had what was known as "singles hell." Which was actually very nice... a large master suite with a big, comfy bed... which I let my two female friends take. More than once it was commented that since I found the fantabulous villa we were staying at, I should at least get a rotation into a bed, but truth be told, I was so happy to be there and so in love with the villa that I couldn't have cared less. I found that, as is often the case with sofa beds, if I slept sideways instead of lenthwise, it was much more comfortable. Of course, I'd issue a caveat that any couple trying to sleep on this sofabed would be mucho uncomfortable.
Richard
I wish I had seen your post of July 2005, to reassure your decision to rent the Sea Star Villa. Even though this is now Sept 2006, I thought I would write a quick note anyway for the next group considering rental of the Sea Star Villa, on Cabrita Point, just down the road from the Ritz Carlton, on St. Thomas, USVI. Our group of friends have actually rented this villa twice - once in February 2005, and again in February 2006. Each time we had a group of 10 adults. The villa is awesome, and easity accommodates this large number of people without a problem. It overlooks the bay and you have both spectacular sunrises and sunsets. We loved having breakfast every morning by pool, and spent many evenings there with a glass of wine after having dinner somewhere on the island. I think we would all have appreciated a heated pool, being there in February, but we still swam in the pool or used a float on many occassions. The infinity pool gives the illusion of overlfowing into the bay, which can't be more than 25 feet from the house. It is a crushed coral type mini beach, so walking along water's edge requires some sort of footwear, and it is rocky at the first point of entry into the water. A good pair of water shoes would make snorkeling more enjoyable. I believe the owners have now taken it off the rental market managed by McLaughlin, and are renting it through their own website: http://www.stthomasseastar.com/. The photos are very representative of the house, and I do highly recommend this villa, and would love to go back again. I'll miss going back there this winter, February 2007, but we have decided to rent a villa on St. Maarten. If anyone has any
questions about the Sea Star Villa, I would love to try to help. Please feel free to contact me by email.
